This invention relates to gaming devices for gaming machines such as slot machines and video poker machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to communication converter boards for communication between gaming devices and the gaming machine or for communication between different gaming machines.
There are a wide variety of associated devices that can be connected to a gaming machine such as a slot machine or video poker machine. Some examples of these devices are lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine. Often, a number of devices are grouped together in a separate box that is placed on top of the gaming machine. Devices of this type are commonly called a top box.
Typically, the gaming machine controls various combinations of devices. These devices provide gaming features that augment the features of the gaming machine. Further, many devices such as top boxes are designed to be removable from the gaming machine to provide flexibility in selecting the game features of a given gaming machine.
Multiple gaming machines can be linked together via a communication network to provide information about the status of the gaming machines to a remote location. For example, the amount of money entered into a group of gaming machines may be pooled together to provide a larger jackpot as part of a wide area progressive network. As money is deposited in an individual gaming machine, this information can be relayed over the communication network to a central location where the total amount of money in the jackpot is tracked. The information on the total jackpot may be sent out over the wide area progressive network to display signs displaying the jackpot amount.
As another example, a group of gaming machines provided in a casino may be linked together to form a casino area network. Many current gaming machines include player tracking devices including magnetic card readers, display panels, and key pad interfaces that allow a player playing a game on a gaming machine to enter information about themselves into the gaming machine. The player tracking information entered into the gaming machine by the player may be sent to a remote location different from the gaming machine using the casino area network. Other information about the status gaming machine including the amount of usage and whether the gaming machine is operating properly may also be sent via the casino area network.
The features of gaming devices are usually controlled by a “master gaming controller” within the gaming machine. The master gaming controller may gather or send information to gaming devices residing on the gaming machine or other devices connected to the gaming machine via a communication network. For example, during a game the master gaming controller might receive information from a key pad interface or a magnetic card read reader and then send information to be displayed on a display screen residing on the gaming machine. Further, the gaming machine might send information from the magnetic card reader or key pad interface to a remote location via a communication network and receive information from a remote location via a communication network to be displayed on a display screen. For the master gaming controller to perform these operations, connections from the devices may be wired directly into some type of electronic board (e.g., a “back plane” or “mother board”) containing the master gaming controller. Further, the master gaming controller may be connected to some of the gaming devices and the communication network through a main communication board located within the gaming machine.
A network of gaming machines may be hooked together in a daisy chain with information propagated up and down the chain via connections between the main communication boards located within each gaming machine. Thus, to maintain the flow of information within the network, the main communication board of each gaming machine always has to be operating. Typically, the main communication board has a separate power supply from the rest of the gaming machine such that the gaming machine may be shutdown for maintenance or for some other reason without breaking the chain of the communication network.
A wide variety of gaming devices including player tracking devices, wide area network devices, and casino area network devices exist which may be connected to a main communication board within the gaming machine. Typically, the main communication board is connected to a gaming machine network and a master gaming controller within the gaming machine. These gaming devices are built by a number of different manufactures using different communication standards. To accommodate the different devices potentially connected to a main communication board, a large number of different types of main communication boards and motherboards have been built in the past. Building these different boards is time consuming and costly. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a main communication board that is configurable to accommodate the large number of gaming devices which might be connected to a main communication board.
Another disadvantage of current main communication boards is the susceptibility to damage from devices connected to the board. When a gaming machine is connected to a network of gaming machines, damage to the main communication board on one machine can bring down a portion of the network. For example, when a device connected to the main communication board is being replaced or a new device is being installed, the main communication board can be damaged when the main power is not turned off to the gaming machine. As another example, a player tracking device may generate an electrostatic charge during its operation that can damage the main communication board. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a main communication board which is less susceptible to damage.
Another disadvantage of current main communication boards is that the whole board is usually replaced when a portion of the board is damaged. For example, a portion of the main communication board might be damaged that enables communication to a player tracking device while the portion of the board that enables network communications is still operating properly. To repair the portion of the board that enables communication to the player tracking device, the whole board is usually replaced. Thus, although the portion of the main communication board that provides network communications is still operating properly, communication capabilities along a network segment can be lost while the main communication board is being replaced. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a main communication board which can be repaired without interrupting network communications when the network communications are operating properly.